Friday Night Lights? Lighting firm outlines proposals to light sports fields at county schools; price tag is $395,000
By Amy Hitt
The Rappahannock County School Sports Association held an informational meeting Monday evening at the Rappahannock County High School with representatives from the Musco Lighting Company on a proposal to light three sports fields for night games.
The RCSSA is proposing to light Panther Stadium as well as the Baseball/Softball fields next to Rappahannock County Elementary School, which are county owned. Steve Wylie and Matt Elmburger from Musco gave a 45-minute presentation and then answered question for about 45 minutes.
The 30 people that attended included School Superintendent Robert Chappell, Andy Hipple Assistant RCHS Principal, Carole Johnson, RCES Principal, representatives from the RCSSA, RCHS Athletic Director Robert Czekaj, a representative from the electrical company that would do the installation and several other parents and students.
The Musco representatives showed the light differential between their Light Structure Green system, and the old style lighting that is in use at older facilities. They reported on the cost of usage and the effect on neighbors in the area surrounding the fields.
The College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech, Fauquier High School, Culpeper’s new high school and Warren County’s Skyline High School, among others, all have the new Musco Lighting system. Information on Musco’s system can be found at http://www.musco.com/permanent.html
The price tag for all three facilities is a total of $395,000. The break down is $157,620 for Panther Stadium, $156,783 for baseball and $80,597 for softball. The prices include a 25-year warranty, except for fuses, and a monitoring program that is operated 24/7 in Iowa called Control-Link.
Pricing also includes installation, upgrading the wiring at RCHS for the Concession/Press Box (which is now using an extension cord running to the school for power for some equipment) and upgrading the single-phase wiring at the RCES Facility to a 3-phase system. The turn-around time is approximately 8 weeks start to finish, 4-6 weeks is the construction of the 16 poles and light assemblies at the Musco Facilities in Iowa. Panther Stadium needs four poles, baseball takes 8 and softball needs four poles.
Several financing options were discussed but the issue of who would pay for this system, and how, remains unsettled.
Musco officials outlined two options: first, if the County holds the lease, there would be no down payment and the full amount could be paid off in up to 10 years at an interest rate of 5-6%. That payment would be approximately $52,000 a year.
The second option is if the RCSSA holds the lease, there would be a $98,000 down payment required and the balance paid off in no more than 7 years with 11-12% interest at a payment of approximately $62,000. The RCSSA wants to pay the payments and they seem to be willing to do so and RCSSA believes the best case scenario would be if the county was holding the note.
Other questions remain about the feasibility of the project, including the question of whether the Rappahannock public schools, which are losing enrollment, will have enough athletes to participate and compete in sports, and whether enough spectators would come to the games, if the teams continue to do poorly.
-- Admin
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